Calls to SE Texas coronavirus hotline continue to run high

Click through the slideshow to see a by-the-numbers look at coronavirus in Southeast Texas.

Medical personnel work inside a tent set up in the back lot of Legacy Community Health on N. Eleventh Street in Beaumont offering COVID-19 testing after screening and also doing flu testing. The clinic is the first private screening unit set up in Jefferson County. Photo taken Wednesday, March 18, 2020 Kim Brent/The Enterprise

Click through the slideshow to see a by-the-numbers look at coronavirus in Southeast Texas.

Medical personnel work inside a tent set up in the back lot of Legacy Community Health on N. Eleventh Street in Beaumont offering COVID-19 testing after screening and also doing flu testing. The clinic is the first private screening unit set up in Jefferson County. Photo taken Wednesday, March 18, 2020 Kim Brent/The Enterprise

The number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in Southeast Texas continued to creep up on Wednesday, and it likely will be at least one more day before the region begins to receive results of individuals tested since screening restrictions were relaxed.

The six-county area confirmed 17 more cases on Wednesday, bringing it to a total of 405. The city of Beaumont claimed slightly less than half the new cases — providing more data to back up assertions from Mayor Becky Ames on Tuesday that the city does not seem to be on the back side of its virus peak.

The Leblanc Prison Unit rose to 19 cases on Wednesday. These numbers are not included in official health department tallies.

No new deaths were confirmed across the region.

Wednesday was the second full day that the six-county region provided testing for anyone interested, regardless of symptoms, and the number of people who have called the hotline number set up to streamline the COVID-19 screening and testing process continued to run higher than almost any other day this month.

On Wednesday, 172 people called the hotline. And on Tuesday, an additional 100 people called the hotline compared to the day prior.

That demand has not yet seemed to translate to the number of people tested. On Wednesday, 162 people were tested for the virus in Hardin and Jefferson counties — the lowest number recorded this week.

While county judges have said they want to see a few more days of data before making major decisions about how they will begin to reopen businesses, the judges of Hardin and Jefferson counties made additions to their emergency orders allowing massage therapists to resume providing some services.

They will now be allowed to resume practicing medically necessary massages.

According to Hardin County Judge Wayne McDaniel’s addition, the determination of necessity must be made by the client’s physician or chiropractor.